Getting started in any new aspect of a game is sometimes a frustrating chore
when all you really want to do is get down into the nitty gritty of the game. 
Crafting in Age of Conan, while uniquely rewarding, can be just such an aspect! 
In order to save you a few gray hairs and a little bit of time, we have broken
down crafting into manageable steps that will get you started and act as a
ongoing resource through your early to mid days of crafting.

 

Getting Started

You've decided that you want to craft and aren't sure how to do so.  I
assure you, you aren't the first to be a little confounded by crafting in Age of
Conan!  There are rules, out of the way places to be visited, and NPCs to
be talked to, but no worries!  We can get you there.

First, the rules:

• You must be level 40 to take a crafting profession.
• You must be level 20 in order to gather resources for crafting.
• You cannot advance into a crafting tier beyond your current adventuring tier.
• You must complete the crafting quests in order to advanced to the next crafting tier.
• Higher tier crafting requires guild city workshops.

 

These rules ensure that crafting, adventuring, and guilds are all
co-dependent upon each other but they do make quite the obstacle for the
solo-minded crafter.  If you intend to craft for level 80 players
(including yourself), then I
suggest finding a guild that is making good use of their guild cities by adding
workshops so that you may progress to the top tier of crafting.

 

Picking a Profession!

• Alchemist: Creates potions for restoring health, stamina, and mana along with food and drink that boost
  these stats.  This class is particularly helpful but finding ingredients
  can be time consuming as many drop off of level appropriate humanoids that
  will require plenty of playtime if you do a lot of crafting.
• Architect: Creates the plans and building elements that are required to create guild cities and siege equipment. 
  Generally only a profession for a guild member wanting to contribute to the
  building of the guild city.  The ingredients needed for this class are very
  expensive, merchant-only items making this not a class for the casual crafter.
• Armorsmith: Creates armor for all armor types and classes. 
  Great starting crafting profession as most of the ingredients can be easily
  harvested in the resource zones.
• Gemcutter: Creates gems of magical properties that can be used to fortify gear and weapons. 
  Very useful class, but also very time consuming.  Gems drop from level
  appropriate humanoids making this a class for the frequent adventurer.
• Weaponsmith: Creates weapons of all types for all classes. 
  Another great starting profession and like the Armorsmith, just about everything
  you need can be found in the resource zone.

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Resource zones are your crafting haven!

 

Can't pick just one?  You are allowed to take on 2 crafting professions
at any one time.  You are allowed to drop crafting professions in order to
change to another one so you aren't locked into whichever ones you choose at
first.  If you do choose to take on two, a great help is to pick two that
share similar resources such as the Armorsmith and Weaponsmith who both utilized
harvested materials or the Alchemist and Gemcutter who both rely on mob drops.

 

Getting Trained

Now that you have chosen your crafting profession, let's get you set up.  To take
on a crafting profession you need to visit the crafting trainer for the
profession of your choice. These trainers are located in the towns of
special zones that are used for guild cities, resource gathering,
and crafting needs. 

• Lacheish Plains (located off of The Field of the Dead and Atzel's Approach). Trainers are in Brandoc Village.
• Poitain (located off of Wild Lands of Zelata and Thunder River). Trainers are in Caenna Village.
• Purple Lotus Swamp (located off of Kopshef Province and Kheshatta). Trainers are in
  Nakaset Village.

 

There is a trainer in each of the villages for each of the crafting
professions and for each of the gathering skills.  Speak with one of the
crafting trainers and you will be granted a recipe book found under the "Combos,
Spells, and Special Abilities" on the "Abilities" tab.  You'll want to drag
the recipe book icon to a hotbar for quicker access in the future.

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Get to know your crafting book well.

The recipe book is how you craft.  If you have more than one profession,
these will be shown as tabs on the left side of the book, clicking the tab will
take you to the recipes for that particular craft.  Your recipe book will
list the things that you are able to craft within the current and previous
tiers.  Clicking on the item name will bring up a window that shows the
recipe details and gives you the "Create" button that allows you to craft that
item.

Each recipe will display the ingredients you need, the amount of ingredients
you need, the amount you have, and what those ingredients will create. 
When you have enough of each item in your resource bag the "Create" button will
be usable and you may craft that item.  Each item you craft will
immediately go into your inventory unless you don't have enough bag space, in
which case no resources will be consumed and it will let you know that you could
not craft the item.

Next we will talk about resources and how to get them!  Meanwhile,
brush up on
each of the crafting classes, and learn all about what they can make and
what resources you're going to need.